$750,000 bail for man in mother's slaying

CHICAGO — A Chicago man was ordered held Tuesday in lieu of $750,000 bail on charges he beat and strangled his mother inside her South Side home after a quarrel over alcohol, prosecutors said.

Sydney Carter, 35, was charged with first-degree murder in the death of his mother, Betty, 59, who was found in her apartment in the 1800 block of East 71st Street early Monday, police said. Cook County Assistant State's Atty. Mikki Miller said Sydney Carter was with his mother when they quarreled about alcohol and he choked her.

Carter fled the apartment and called his sister, telling her and her boyfriend that their mother was dead and may have been strangled, Miller said. She was found in bed and pronounced dead at the scene.

Prosecutors said Carter gave a videotaped confession. He has three felony convictions, including a 2001 conviction for unlawful use of a weapon by a felon, for which he received 2 years' probation, authorities said.